Terra Estrangeira (Foreign Land)

trinidad+tobago film festival 2010 screening

Year	1996
Duration	100 minutes
Type	Dramatic feature
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese, with English subtitles
Director(s)	Daniela Thomas, Walter Salles
Rating	n/a
Contact	danielathomas@uol.com.br

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Terra Estrangeira is an engrossing, grainy black-and-white thriller made in the best film noir tradition. It is 1990, and Brazil’s newly elected president, Fernando Collor, has frozen all personal savings accounts. Young Brazilians, fearing a bleak future, leave the country in droves. Among them is Alex, who would rather eke out an existence as a waitress in Portugal than remain in São Paolo.

Paco, meanwhile, dreams of travelling abroad, and when his mother dies, he no longer has anything keeping him in Brazil. Accepting a delivery job from a shady businessman, Paco heads off to Lisbon. When things go wrong, Paco finds himself thrown together with Alex. The two end up on the run with a violin full of uncut diamonds, and an underworld honcho on their trail.

Trinidad & Tobago premiere

Awards: Golden Rosa Camuna, Bergamo Film Festival (1996); Grand Prix, Entrevues Film Festival (1996); Silver Daisy, Silver Daisy Awards, Brazil (1996); Best Screenplay, São Paolo Association of Art Critics Awards (1996)

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